A father's influence

In his book “Raising A Modern-Day Knight, A Father’s Role In Guiding His Son To Authentic Manhood,” author Robert Lewis has a chapter titled “The Invisible Dad.”

Lewis begins the chapter by writing, “Two pictures summarize my relationship with my father.” One picture was on his wedding day with the wedding party. The other picture was when he was home from college with his two brothers. The thing that the two pictures had in common that summarize Lewis’ relationship with his father, was that his father was not present in either picture.

His father was not present in the two pictures because he had passed away or was out of town. The father was not present in either picture because he had allowed his dependence on Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, Old Crow, and other liquors to be his company of choice. He became the “Invisible Dad.”

Lewis writes, “We rarely played together. He never told me, ‘I love you.’ I never prayed with him or talked to him about spiritual things. I never knew what he believed. I never heard my dad say, ‘Son, I am proud of you.’ We missed him. We missed feeling is heart, his closeness, his affirmation, seeing his conviction, experiencing his leadership! Words like these should naturally go hand-in-hand with the word Dad. He traded them all for alcohol.”

Alcohol is not the only thing that can cause a dad to disappear from the family picture. Climbing the corporate ladder, preoccupation with selfish pleasures, engaging in illicit lifestyles can all turn fathers into the “Invisible Dad.”

God wants fathers to be a positive influence in the lives of his children. That is the main point of Ephesians 6:4 where it is written, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children, instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” In other words, fathers influence your children. Influence them in such a way that they grow up to be Godly men and women rather than bitter and resentful individuals.

You can do it dads, but you have got to stay in the picture.

Mark Snavely is the pastor of Coastal Community Christian Church. He can be reached at 756-3455.